I Hate Musicals

"I hate musicals. They're gaudy, mired in stereotypes and they have never inspired me to think. Nor do I connect with the desire to burst into passionate dance and song. I associate that urge with repressed female high school students whose only escape from cliche is to bury themselves past it."
-younger me, journal

I wrote that a long time ago. Well before I had seen Hedwig and the Angry Inch. That film rescued the entire genre for me. I felt that the story tapered off but the performance delivered by John Cameron Mitchell was enough to draw lines on the ground. I'm on this side. Join me.

I haven't wanted to dance so badly since Billy Elliot rocked out in front of his father (he defeats him in dance to stern face combat in the first three minutes of this clip). This is a picture of Hedwig wearing the second hottest wig in the film. Can you guess the hottest?

This is the best song in Hedwig, "Wig in a Box".

Within a week I found out about a video for House on A Planet, a musical that my friend wrote. I love Archive 4x48. And the ????? in the chorus is genius. It seems like musicals have invested a lot of effort into trying to win me over. I'm quite fond of the video game sound.

197x transverses time.

I suspect musicals will be around for you too. They seem like a long lasting form of entertainment. Songs are an easily recognized departure from reality. I remember a professor of mine explaining that when we sing we can only hold the vowel sounds. For instance when singing the word "because" we elongate the "beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeecause". We can't elongate the "beccccccccccccccccccccccccccccause". Perhaps they have perfected this voice technology in your day. A funny struggle to make words sound special.